By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Maine’s school consolidation plan could mean higher taxes, loss of local control, fewer schools in the state’s rural areas and longer commutes for students when voters go to the polls November 4 to decide whether or not they join the new regional school district. Despite assurances from Augusta that reorganization will save money, Houlton Town Manager Douglas Hazlett says: “One size does not fit all.” Adding that there are tremendous possible benefits, he also says he is not in favor of the way it is currently proposed. Voters have to make sure of what it means to them as parents and taxpayers according to Hazlett. “You can be in favor of consolidation, but if you don’t understand the cost, you’re not fully educated.”
Hazlett, Houlton Town Council Chairman Paul Cleary and MSAD 29 Board Chairman Brian McGuire maintain voters have to look at the following key issues:
whether or not regionalization will increase or decrease taxes;
guarantees, if any, that local schools won’t be closed;
actual cuts in administrative costs and how much they are worth;
number of teachers to be fired, if any, and what it is worth;
loss of local control over schools and local education issues;
improvements, if any, to the quality of education.
State Senator Roger Sherman says: “In the Augusta-Hallowell area, what the plan is, it’s kind of a general plan that says, well, some administrators will go. Some sports teams will go. And that’s about it. They don’t have to do anything. and that’s part of the anger for us who live in Washington County, Aroostook County, Penobscot, Oxford, Piscataquis.”
Stephen Fitzpatrick, superintendent of MSAD 29, says “the law pits rural, small communities one against the other” and needs to be more equitable since small communities with no financial incentive to vote against it, may be concerned about being taken over by larger communities. Fitzpatrick also says he would like to see the legislature hold the different districts harmless and make them responsible for raising their own money to cover their own local costs.
David Connerty-Marin, director of communications for the Department of Education, says in the current fiscal environment, with declining enrollments and changing demographics, it is necessary to streamline costs for the education system. “Towns need to work together locally to realize savings in non-institutional areas like transportation, facilities and maintenance, bookkeeping and payroll as well as administration of special education.
Towns with higher value homes and more businesses like Houlton will feel the pinch of higher costs and higher tax valuation within seven years. But, even under the consolidation plan, the first two years are a hold-harmless period. Sherman said: “The town of Houlton is going to have to raise more money. They’ll have a greater share of this whole unit if this goes together – this little super school area …. It’s a major, major number.”
Hazlett contends at the end of seven years, if the plan is approved, the local share of all the communities for the new consolidated SAD 29 school district will be an additional $4million which communities have to fund on their own. Cleary says savings under consolidation just are not there, especially with the governor’s call for a 10 percent cut across the board. With added responsibilities on a superintendent, for example, who will take over more schools and answer to 27 towns, he says the salary will go up maybe from $80,000 to $130,000 or $140,000.
“Your local superintendent is your human resources manager who does the hiring and firing. So, now he has to hire somebody to do the hiring and firing. Your local superintendent handles all the negotiations … puts together the budget.” Adding that there will be so many assistants, Cleary says all the added positions wipe out any savings.
As for cutting elsewhere, Hazlett says “The only way is to close schools and increase classroom size …. You can’t cut school buses. You can’t cut fuel. You can’t cut cafeteria. You can’t cut special ed.” But, Connerty-Marin maintains that since the law does not require any school closings, each area needs to work out its own cost-sharing formula that will be equitable. He says the state has a team of facilitators to assist with the thorny issue of fairness. He also emphasizes that it may be better to send some students to larger schools instead of the smaller ones where old buildings are unaffordable.
Nancy Wright, teaching principal at the Wellington School in Monticello, is concerned about the commuting time. “Bus drivers already start at 6:30 in the morning to pick up the first students in Monticello while it’s still dark. Some students are on the bus for an hour and half before they even start their academic day.”
McGuire says as taxpayers, local control is lost under consolidation with a much bigger district controlling more schools. “We’ll have no control over our schools, our teachers, or anything anymore. That super board controls and tells us what we do with our buildings and everything. We’ll have no control as a taxpayer.”
Each town’s cost, says Hazlett, will be based, eventually, on one hundred percent valuation — the value of the tax base in the town. When that happens in seven years, Hazlett adds, the towns with higher value homes, businesses and industry, such as Houlton, will have a higher tax base. By then, the valuation shift alone will cost Houlton an additional $689,544 on top of the more than $2 million it pays today. Littleton, he says, could add another $104,994; Monticello, $95,036.
Since some communities spend more local tax money than others on education, their share in the Essential Programs and Services (EPS) formula is disproportionately in favor of the smaller community — what Hazlett calls the “cost-shifting” that will be phased in over seven years. So, according to Hazlett, the owner of a house valued at $100,000 will see an additional increase in taxes of another $400, for example, if the mil rate increases from the current 18.25 to 22.25. So, the tax would jump from $1825 to $2225 on a house valued at $100,000 – assuming no other increases for additional costs to the town such as personnel benefits, staffing, repairs, social services, capital improvements, heating municipal buildings, snow removal, reduced funding from Augusta, etc. Cleary says, “The way we’ve attracted economic development and businesses to this community is that we’ve kept the tax mil rate at a decent rate…. You throw this on and it’s going to stop your economic development from happening.”
Parents of children who are home-schooled or in private school pay more than children in the public school system and may also see their tax burden increase under consolidation. Thomas Zimmerman, assistant head of school at the Greater Houlton Christian Academy says he commends parents in this area for their commitment to their children. And, while those with children who are not in public school have to grapple with the extra expense of tuition and classroom materials, they are willing to make the sacrifice. But, he adds it could be “made more equitable with tax credits or vouchers.”
Sherman says “There’s nothing certain about this. It’s some individual’s glorified idea of making larger schools …. it should have been about the kids in the first place … The alternative is if enough people turn this thing down and say to the governor who will be a lame duck…. ‘say Mr. Governor we’re not going to get pushed around, local control is still there, you’re not going to have a super superintendent in the state of Maine running all the schools in the state of Maine. You’re just not.’”
Sherman says if the referendum is voted down, the legislature can change the schedule or stop consolidation altogether. A brochure outlining the town of Houlton’s position on the proposed regionalization plan is in the town office on Water Street.
